Illinois Schools Offering Culinary Arts Degrees
What if you could study culinary arts, baking and pastry or professional cooking or hospitality management in exciting Chicago? If you live in the region or are looking to relocate for career then this is one of the most dynamic areas of the country.
Cuisine-speaking The Windy City and surrounding area is a diverse melting pot of ethnic influences as well as classic American cooking. And where there is fantastic food you’ll also find other sensory enjoyments like good music, world-class theater and art museums. These all serve to complement what you are trained to present on a plate.
What’s clear is that any chef’s training you choose in Illinois can be easily complemented with regular forays into the region food scene. Immerse yourself in well-reviewed local restaurants and eateries, take in the aromas of vendor food on the Chicago street corners, dig into the best spoils from the most talked-about local chefs and then let your own culinary creativity free.
Illinois Regional Food Festivals
While you’re immersing yourself in the local food scene and sweating it out in a demanding cooking school curriculum why not make the rounds of the regional food and wine festivals. These events are perfect vehicles for pulling together all that is richest in the area: chefs, restaurants, food tastings, wine pairings, cooking classes, chef competitions, even rub elbows with guest celeb chefs.
- Taste of Chicago
- Windy City Wine Festival
- Tour de Champagne Chicago
- International Beer Tasting and Chili Cook-off
Professional Food Service Industry Associations in Illinois
As a student chef you typically get discounted student membership to professional associations. Why join? Organizations like these give you ample opportunity to forge strong industry alliances with professionals just like you as well as businesses looking for good employees. Take advantage of discounted admission to national and regional conferences, educational events and any applicable chef and hospitality scholarships for chefs in Illinois.
- Chicago Chefs of Cuisine
- Illinois Restaurant Association
- Heart of Illinois Hospitality Association
Compete for a Chef’s Job in Chicago
Chicago, especially, is a competitive culinary market, but with the right credentials the combination can be easily cracked. Some of the key factors that help you get a leg up in the job market include: your education, level of professional experience and type of establishment in which you seek work. Select a school that provides tons of hands-on training and better yet gives you the opportunity to work in a student-run kitchen. Take advantage of any internships or apprenticeships available and use your school’s career placement services.
Illinois Top Cooking and Culinary Schools
Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago – Le Cordon Bleu Program delivers a world-class curriculum modeled on that developed by the famous Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France. you learn the fundamentals of classic French cooking, the cornerstone of many other Western cuisines. When you graduate you can be sure your resume is at the top of the heap as far as industry respect and professional skills go. Programs of study on the Chicago campus include: Associates Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts, Associates Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie and Baking, and Certificate in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts.
International Culinary Schools at the Art Institutes of Chicago is just one of 32 world-renowned campuses in North America. This very popular culinary program features a list of alumni that reads like a Who’s Who of American chefs. You get solid grounding in main international cuisines, including classic French cooking. Learn all the knife skills and cooking methods you need to proudly wear your chef’s whites. Degree programs include: Bachelors Culinary Management, Associates Culinary Arts, Associates Hospitality Management, Professional Baking and Pastry Certificate, and Professional Cooking Certificate.
Chicago’s Community Kitchens program offers basic culinary and kitchen sanitation training to disadvantaged adults with a strong ambition for a successful restaurant career. Students learn skills that allow them to make a strong bid for entry-level restaurant and institutional kitchen jobs. With perseverance and motivation they can excel in this business. Sponsors include the Chicago Food Bank.
French Pastry School – Chicago offers an ultra-specialized culinary curriculum directed at budding French pastry chefs. Chef-faculty are some of the best in the business.
Illinois State Colleges, Community and Technical Colleges Offering Culinary, Restaurant Management, and/or Hospitality Degrees
Belleville Area College – Belleville
Benedictine University – Lisle
Black Hawk College – Moline
Chicago State University – Chicago
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College – Chicago
City Colleges of Chicago-Kennedy-King College – Chicago
College of Du Page - Glen Ellyn
College of Lake County – Grayslake
Dominican University - River Forest
Elgin Community College – Elgin
Illinois Central College - East Peoria
Illinois Valley Community College – Oglesby
Joliet Junior College – Joliet
Kaskaskia College – Centralia
Lake Land College – Mattoon
Lewis and Clark Community College - Godfrey
Lexington College – Chicago
Lincoln Land Community College – Springfield
Loyola University – Chicago
Moraine Valley Community College - Palos Hills
Northern Illinois University – Dekalb
Northwestern Business College – Chicago
Northwestern Business College - Hickory Hills
Oakton Community College - Des Plaines
Olivet Nazarene University – Bourbonnais
Parkland College – Champaign
Robert Morris College – Chicago
Roosevelt University – Chicago
Southern Illinois University - Carbondale
University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign